The more we homeschool, the more I realize a lot of my job as home educator does NOT have to do with academics.
Sure, the 3 R’s are important, but there are higher objectives we should be prioritizing.
I’ve tried – oh, have I tried – to get the kids to clean up one thing before pulling something else out. “One toy out at a time” I’d call in a sing-songy voice…
Yeah, right.
After years of trying, I’ve finally accepted that it’s just not going to happen. There just will be lots of things out at one time and you know what…
…the world isn’t going to end!
I’m a right-handed mom with two left-handed kids. When I figured out my two oldest boys were both lefties, I was totally unprepared to help them navigate the left-handed-person challenges they’d face in this life.
In my righty “this-world-was-made-with-me-in-mind” ignorance, I figured scissors and can-openers and garden pruners were one-direction-fits-all kind of tools. I just never really realized the annoyances lefties deal with on a daily basis until I tried teaching my own two left-handed kids.
? “I get by with a little help from my friends” ?
– The Beatles
Sing it, Ringo! So true!
Homeschooling parents have a lot on our plates and, depending on the day or our stage of life, the help we need often takes different forms.
But there are also kinds of support and encouragement that are universally helpful to all homeschoolers. The following three categories of help have been consistently valuable to me in all stages of our homeschooling so far.
To the tune of Auld Lang Syne…
Christmas gifts strewn all around,
Party messes still piled high,
Decorations to repack…
I think I’m about to cry.And add to this the pressure felt
– words by Sensible Homeschool
To analyze your life,
And come up with some lofty goals
That will solve all of your strife.
That’s how the song goes, isn’t it?
In the previous post, I shared how Daniel Tiger reminded me to be grateful and stay positive. We’ve started using gratitude journals in the evenings to help us focus our thoughts on our blessings before bed. So far there haven’t been any complaints about the extra writing – a Christmas miracle!
Daniel has been teaching me other things lately, too.
Our God is so good.
He knows what we need and he meets us where we’re at… even when “where you’re at” is buried under three loads of laundry, surrounded by a hopeless mess in every direction, with a crying toddler hanging on your leg, an oven timer beeping, and older kids who are fighting instead of finishing their math.
It was in a moment like this a few days ago that He caught my attention through the (unbelievably incessant) singing of the PBS character, Daniel Tiger.
“When something seems bad, turn it around and find something good.”
So far in this series we’ve looked at ways to save money by being…
- Competent (Strategy #1)
- Cautious (Strategy #2)
- Counter-Cultural (Strategy #3)
The final 4 C’s Strategy overlaps with #3 but I’ve kept them separate since each one has it’s own main focus.
Being counter-cultural in our approach to money helps us zero in on our own goals and work towards them without being influenced by what culture says we’re “supposed” to do. Once you’re comfortable going against the cultural grain, it becomes easier to come up with all kinds of creative money-saving ideas that are unique to your own situation.
If you haven’t yet, check out Strategy #1 and Strategy #2 in this series.
So you read last week’s post and stuck around for more? Three cheers for you!! Honestly, the first two strategies are super-important but not all that exciting. They’re kind of like brushing your teeth. Necessary and effective? Yes. Exciting? Not so much.
Thankfully, once you make some progress with Strategies #1 and #2 – learning more about finances and minimizing your financial temptations – you can save even more by using the final two strategies to reach your family’s goals.